A Manifesto for the Level-Headed, A Battle Cry to Balanced Free Thinkers
It’s Time to Step Up, For God’s Sake
Just a heads up, I’m all over the place in criticism here, so probability says I’ll likely criticize some opinion you hold and/or a bunch of your favorite movies in this piece.
I am a political impossibility in 2017.
I believe in single payer healthcare, but my argument is an economic one, not a defense of “the weak”. I believe in free speech. College kids should be able to wear whatever halloween costumes they want to, even if they’re a bit offensive [Yale Halloween Scandal]. I am a “social justice warrior”. I believe in Social Justice initiatives that give handicaps to those that come from underserved communities in education and work. I enjoy meme culture and my favorite comedians are extremely offensive [i.e. Anthony Jeselnik “Shark Party”].
Just take me as an example, for the sake of this manifesto. I’m not going to argue for any of those individual stances here, because frankly, those are minimally important to the point I’m making.
I want to stand up for individuals. “Leftists” can be people that don’t think Venezuala’s government is run very well [Venezuala Crisis]. “Right-Wingers” aren’t all huge fans of Donald Trump. Most people dislike CNN, if we’re being honest. There is so much variety and contrariety in the way people think, believe and act in our modern society. But that is not how our politics looks. That is not how politics operates online, or even in small circles. That is not how our debates on politics take shape.
I’m going to lay out the real evil here: It is The Hero’s Journey.
Everyone thinks they’re a hero. Star Wars. Lord of the Rings. Karate Kid. Transformers. Dark Knight. Jurassic Park. Donnie Darko. Inception. The Lion King. Pulp Fiction. The Terminator. Edge of Tomorrow. John Wick. BeetleJuice. You can find the Hero’s Journey in almost all contemporary stories and media. It is a story that is built in to our society. A story that seems to underlie all stories. Here’s how it works, for those who haven’t taken an English class within the last year:
[1] A Hero, or as I prefer, a ‘Main Character’ has a call to adventure, a call to action. This is as simple as any call to action, drawing a person to take action in life.
[2] The Main Character crosses the line from the Known to the Unknown and begins the transformation process. The MC has to adapt to rise to the challenge he/she faces. A person being forced out of his/her comfort zone is a micro version of this in life.
[3] The MC meets a wise mentor and guide. Is a character that the MC looks to for guidance. Could be any friend, family member or teacher who offers guidance or problem solving assistance in a micro version in life.
[4] Death. The low point, where all hope seems lost. The abyss. A failure or embarrassment that an MC incurs in the unknown outside of the comfort zone is a micro version in life.
[5] Transformation begins. Possibly a montage of working out or training takes place. MC rises to the challenge and begins to take on a true transformation.The abyss doesn’t win. The MC doesn’t back down, even though he/she has hit that low point. Stepping out of a comfort zone, trying to overcome a fear is a micro example in life.
[6] Atonement. The victory through the final climax of the story. The attainment of glory. The MC is tested again, but overcomes the challenge once and for all. Any brave overcoming of a fear or of an internal worry is a micro example of this in life.
[7] The triumphant return. And back to the beginning we go, but we have changed.
[C.G. Jung - Hero’s Journey Mythology]
The Real Antagonist
The real antagonist is the drive to look for an antagonist at all. I got into an argument with a couple of my best friends recently over an idea for a business. I thought it was a good one; I wouldn’t back down. They thought it was flawed; they wouldn’t back down. We all argued for about an hour and a half and the argument tailored off into an uncomfortable frustration with each other.
I was asked: “Why do you always do that? Why do have to argue everything to death?” My response was: “You guys were attacking my idea, I was just defending what I believed”. But we are all great friends; why did the argument have to go this way? Another argument picked up afterwards and I was attacking one of their points of view. Things got even more heated. Also frustrated ending.
I had carried my emotions from one argument the next without even acknowledging it. Totally unnecessary. I came to an epiphany after this unsatisfying series of exchanges:
Why can’t we just agree to disagree?
Seriously. It’s that simple. The very fact that we held a conversation with opposing views for an hour and half should at least solidify that everyone in that conversation held his own free-minded opinion on the matter, even if stubbornness was a part of that opinion. Better yet, why couldn’t we admit that we were all being evenly stubborn and agree to ponder the issue further?
From an objective stance, we should have been able to conclude and say: “you know what, I still hold my position, but you’ve at least brought up some good points, and maybe I should put more thought towards your point of view”. Maybe then, we could have come back to the same discussion later after trying to see the issue from a different perspective.
Maybe then, we could HONESTLY research the topic. Not to mean: dig around on the internet for echo chamber sources that only back up my opinion and then post them on Facebook or Twitter and tag my friend in the post, thinking “this will show that motherf….”. Alt-righters, you’re being just as echo-chamber-esque and “special snowflake”-esque when you feel you have some gift at recognizing BS and reject everything that smells to you at all like Social Justice. SJWs, if you look for things that are offensive, you’ll find them, but ask yourself: “is this particular case really an injustice worth fighting” … “what’s really important here to the people we’re talking about?”
Politically, to ponder an issue does not mean: hope some disaster happens publicly that acts as support for my opinion so I can ignore the people actually involved in the disaster and rub my friend’s face in it thinking “look at how obviously wrong you are”.
All of this is emotionally-driven and is entirely irrational. It’s currently ripping our country apart.
So, the Hero’s Journey though?
We are so driven to find an antagonist in life’s experiences that we pick them out of our day-to-day. This could be: the rising leftist social movement, looking to steal my hard-earned money in the form of taxes only to invest it in backwards, inefficiently run programs. This could be: the rising right wingers, looking to divert resources into the pockets of the 1%-ers who control everything and skew resources unfairly.
It is way easier to find an evil in the shape of people or monsters, because that’s how it is in the movies. You have your Darth Vaders, your Saurons, your dictators, your oppressors, your communists, etc.
This runs away from the simple problem staring everyone in the face. Life is scary.
It’s scary to approach beautiful women. It’s scary to approach your boss and confidently ask for a raise. It’s scary to apply for school. It’s scary to face the death of your family member. It’s scary to face the poor self-image you see in the mirror you see staring back at you each morning. It’s scary to think your long term Significant Other might not be the one. It’s scary that your kids might experience failures. It’s scary to get divorced. It’s scary to not save up enough for retirement. It’s scary to stand up to bullies that don’t care about how they are hurting you emotionally. It’s scary that life is an unstoppable train moving towards ever worsening boredom. It’s scary to face up to the fact that in high school you thought you were going to make something of yourself and now you’re stuck in a dead-end job, where the forward step looks even more dull, listless and soul-sucking than where you are now, but the step backwards and its lack of money and stability is even more terrifying.
There’s unknown everywhere. That in itself is the evil. The Unknown. Step 2 of the hero’s journey. It’s not one epic journey, it’s virtually every step you take, every action you decide on in your waking life.
The true antagonist is that we cannot figure out who the antagonist is. Where is the evil? The unknown is everywhere! Why isn’t my battle clear? Present yourself Evil Force, so I can rise to the occasion and defeat you!
We all missed it, though. Our enemy’s greatest trick is tricking us into thinking it is something else, or that it will present itself to us at all. There is no enemy. I won’t fall into cliches and say: “the true enemy is yourself”. It’s not. Don’t fight yourself. That’s a total waste of effort. There is no enemy. It is actually the very story structure that underlies our lives that has failed us.
A Solution to a Non-Existent Problem
We are not heroes. We need to get over ourselves. Only then can we figure out what is actually bothering us. We shouldn’t surf around on the web looking for ideological battles to jump into, in cheesy, Mortal-Combat-esque limited ideological characters. “Oh, you picked ‘Leftist’, I’ll pick ‘Alt-Right’”, let’s spar. Fuck you. This is all just a game. A zero sum game. We use this game to distract ourselves from the dull, agonizingly simple truth in front of us.
It’s okay that there is no enemy in life. It’s okay to not be a hero. Sure, it’s cool to defend our beliefs. Sure, it’s cool to tackle a gunman about to cause violence to a large group. Sure, it’s cool to defend a coworker from being unfairly emotionally abused by someone in power. What’s more important than hoping for those occasions is to get out of the “I will defend my honor and the honor of others!” mindset. As Brad Pitt’s character explains in Fight Club: “We are the middle children of history. We have no great war”. It’s scary to face a world where good and bad are blended together hopelessly.
We can end an argument saying, “hey, I think we’re going to disagree on this point, though I really think I might be able to show you some more sources that will change your mind”.
Regardless of whether this feels like we aren’t rising to the occasion in the short run to defend our beliefs like our ideal true MC would, this is the strongest way to positively impact society in the long run.
Here’s the call to action
Let’s start a revolution in level headedness. Let’s dismantle the “us vs. them” mentality. Let’s start a social revolution based on respect for others and then go from there.
This will take a new kind of warrior. This will take a warrior whose greatest weapon is patience, whose greatest armor is self awareness. Whose special ability is to honestly ask for clarification when someone else states their opinion or posts an article that backs up their political stance. To probe honestly without trying to change that other person’s opinion, or to “win” anything for that matter. This isn’t sports. It’s humanity. We need people that can honestly say they are not using this “patience” tactic as a mask because it makes them look better than the lowly people who engage in arguments, who argue emotionally. That’s still backwards thinking.
Let’s be respectful and be constantly on the lookout for our own biases, our own emotional tendencies. Let’s be relentlessly and curiously respectful of those with different opinions than our own.
Let’s be an elevated form of humanity that is conscious of the human condition. Let’s be revolutionaries in calming the hell down. Let’s be vehement and aggressive in our patience and our self awareness. We are the new breed of warriors.
Let’s take over. It’s our turn. It is time for the level headed, free thinking individuals to step up for God’s sake.
Next Chapter: There are no enemies, because there is no evil. A narrative philosophical exploration of these issues in…
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